SUMMER AND WINTER FOOD. 15 



birds passing at first merely to a receptacle, from whence it 

 goes to be digested at leisure, food that does not digest too fast, 

 but lasts some time, will better support the bird during long 

 and cold nights. And so we find to be the case. In winter, 

 sound tick beans or good old grey peas, with a few of the finest 

 tares, make the best of food for ordinary pigeons, to which may 

 be added a proportion of barley. But in summer the case is 

 very different. At this season a large part of the food has to 

 go to the young in a partially digested state ; and hence we 

 want naturally a softer food, which can be rapidly converted 

 into pap. The process of feeding also absorbs so much mois- 

 ture that there is very little danger of scouring. In summer, 

 therefore, beans should be exchanged for grey peas, and these 

 largely mixed with such soft grain as wheat, small maize, or 

 dari. This last is a grain much resembling pearl barley in 

 appearance, and is occasionally called Indian millet. There is 

 sometimes difficulty in getting it ] but we can say from expe- 

 rience that in the breeding season it is a most valuable aid to 

 the pigeon fancier. The birds seem to prefer it to almost any 

 grain ; its small size enables it to be fed to the voung with ease 

 even by small-gulleted birds ; and it tends also to an abundant 

 supply of soft food or pap. In making these changes, however, 

 and especially in adding softer grain to the staple of beans or 

 peas, there is one simple precaution to be taken, viz., to make 

 all such changes or additions gradually. The most valuable 

 foWd may entirely upset the digestive system through a whole loft, 

 if suddenly given in exchange for a different food far inferior. 

 With this caution we may add to the list of useful food during 

 the breeding season a grain otherwise dangerous, viz., raw rice, 

 which seems to have an extraordinary effect, given in modera- 

 tion, in assisting some birds to feed their young. 



There are some pigeons, such as Short-faced Tumblers or 

 foreign Owls, too small in the gullet to swallow beans or even 

 full-sized peas. Such must be fed on the smaller grey peas in 



